


Bittersweet Birthday Gift

by Pervy_Mel



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aomine Daiki's Birthday, Aomine's Birthday 2020, Bittersweet Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26208544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pervy_Mel/pseuds/Pervy_Mel
Summary: In normal time, Daiki would be happy about it, and would even be excited about it. He always loved his birthday, his friends and family always made it special.But it couldn't be special, it would never be special anymore since his special someone wasn't there with him to celebrate it.
Relationships: Aomine Daiki/Kuroko Tetsuya
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Bittersweet Birthday Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Aomine's birthday, really different from the one I wrote last years.   
> Hope you will enjoy!! Don't be too sad about it.

Daiki woke up and stared at the ceiling. The bird was singing outside, he could hear the wind on the trees. It was a sunny August day, it was the last day of the month, 31st of August which was also his birthday. 

In normal time, Daiki would be happy about it, and would even be excited about it. He always loved his birthday, his friends and family always made it special. 

However for the past three years, he wasn't excited about it, he wasn't really looking forward to it. For the past three years, the 31st of August was a day like all the others to him, even if his friends and family still tried to make it special.

But it couldn't be special, it would never be special anymore since his special someone wasn't there with him to celebrate it. 

Tetsuya left Japan a few months after Daiki had confessed to him. He said that he needed to think about it, that he wanted to see the world before taking any decision. In short for Daiki, Tetsuya just ran away from him, he felt like he was getting rejected and bitterly regretted his decision to confess. 

He looked at the time, it was still early, he contemplated the idea of staying in bed longer, but he took too long to decide; his phone rang as he was about to close his eyes. He looked at the screen and let out a groan, of course Kise was the first to call him.

"Happy birthday Aominecchi" chanted his blond friend at the other end. 

"Thanks Kise..." 

"What were you doing?" 

"Sleeping." 

"You lazy man, get up I will be at your house in a few minutes." 

"What?! Hell no!"

"Ah come on, wanted to treat you for breakfast. You can't say no to food that you will not have to pay right? You can even choose where we will go."

Daiki didn't want to go anywhere, he wanted to stay in bed, but he also knew Kise would come and knock on his door until he opened. Kise could really be annoying but his friend never had bad intentions, he just wanted to cheer him up. 

"Fine." 

"Yay!! Gonna be there in a bit!" 

"Don't rush me."

"Yeah, yeah, see ya."

Kise hung up and Daiki get off his bed to drag his feet to the bathroom. He needed to at least look presentable. 

He heard someone knocking at his door right after he finished shaving. 

Looking into the peeping hole and saw his friend waiting. Daiki started wondering if he should make him wait longer and pretend he didn't hear him knocking. He decided to make him wait a little and finish preparing before opening the door. 

"Why didn't you open earlier?" asked Kise with an offended tone. 

"Sorry, didn't hear you was in the shower," lied Daiki.

His friend clearly didn't buy that, but decided to note complaints more. 

"Ready?"

"Depend on where you're planning to drag me."

"Don't worry you're fine like that," replied Kise. 

Daiki sigh, everything would be much more simple if Kise was telling him where they were going, he wasn't a big fan of all that mystery; l ast time Kise organized something, he ended up on an unwanted blind date, his friend thought that it would help him to get over Tetsuya. 

The two men got in Kise’s car, his blond friend drove them to a little café that he really like, 

“Not taking anything?” asked Daiki after giving his order. 

“Hmm, no, I already ate,” replied Kise looking by the window, like if I was waiting for someone to appear. 

Daiki didn’t say a word, but he found his friend weird, he knew his friend was treating him for breakfast, but he could still have gotten something for himself. 

Once the order was ready, they sat at a table, near the front window, where Daiki could eat. 

He was about to throw his trash when Kise stopped him.

“Wait!! You are sure you finished up everything?” asked Kise. 

Daiki gave him a weird look, of course he ate everything, his tray was empty, well not totally his bill was there with some unused napkins. It was a lot of napkins for one person he realized, maybe he could bring them home. 

Taking the napkin to put them in his pocket, he felt a thicker piece of paper. _ “What is this” he thought.”  _ He looked between the napkins and found a small square envelope. 

Daiki lifted his eyes in Kise direction and the latter had his phone in hand and was talking fastly. Pointing his phone, his friend left the café, leaving him alone. What the hell was wrong with him. 

Daiki was about to follow Kise outside when he remembered that I needed to throw away his trash. When he was done, Kise was already gone, no car in sight.

Annoyed, Daiki looked around, he was in an area he didn’t really know; taking out his phone to see where he was, he saw a message sent by Kise, just before the latter left. 

K: I promise to explain everything later, just read what is in the envelope , it’s very important, you need to do what is written. 

Daiki looked at the enveloped suspicious, he didn’t want to look what was in the envelope, he just wanted to go back home. But while Kise could be really silly sometimes, he never had bad intentions, and Daiki would not lose anything by looking at what was inside the envelope. 

Carefully opening the envelope, Daiki took out the paper that was inside, a small paper, with a drawing on it, the drawing was representing a place he knew very well and something inside him was telling him to go there. 

He called a taxi and gave his destination: Teiko school. 

Arriving at his former middle school, Daiki paid the driver and got out of the taxi. Slowly looking around, a lot of memories came back to him; Teiko was where he met Tetsuya for the first time. 

“Dai-Chan!!” 

Daiki didn’t have to look to see who was calling him, he could recognize this voice everywhere, it was his childhood and bestfriend Momoi Satsuki. 

“Satsu.”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”

“Tell me you are not the one who brought me here?”

“Of course not and you could have say thanks first” she said, pouting. 

“Sorry, thank you for the birthday wishes.”

“It’s okay, here's your gift.”

Daiki took the bag that was giving him Momoi. 

Inside, hiding between the layers of tissue paper, Daiki found two envelopes and one of them had his friend handwriting on it, so he decided to open that one first. 

Inside he found money,

“Sorry,” said Momoi “I didn’t know what to buy you,” she explained. 

“You didn’t have too, thanks.” 

After Tetsuya's departure, Daiki really felt lost and Momoi was always there for him even if he had tried to push her away. He felt like everyone pitied him and he hated that. Daiki knew he needed to make things right again. 

“Wanna go somewhere?” he asked his friend. 

“Yeah sure, but not today.”

"Why? It’s my…”

“I know, I know, look at what is left in the bag. 

Daiki sighs while taking out the second envelope as Momoi was walking away without a word.

Daiki watched his friend walking away. What was wrong with his friends today; first Kise, now Momoi.

He opened the second envelope, this time he didn’t find a drawing, but a black an white picture. Daiki felt like he knew that place, he already was there, but he couldn’t quite tell where it was, but he also knew that he needed to find it. He sat on a bench nearby and stared at the photography. 

It looked like a gymnasium, he spent a lot of time there, playing basketball. 

The drawing brought him to Teiko which was an important part of him; there he met Tetsuya. Maybe that gymnasium was an important part of his life too. Where did he play that had a lot of meaning to him? Winter Cup gymnasium? It was important, but it wasn’t that place. 

“Ah!! I know...the Interhigh gym. It was the first time I was seeing Tetsuya for the first time after graduating from Teiko. Now that he knew what place it was, he knew where to go. 

Daiki hopped in another taxi and headed for the gymnasium where the Interhigh from the time he was in high school was held. 

Arriving at the destination, he compared the building on the picture to the one in front of him; he was at the right place. Now he needed to look around to see if he found someone he knew. 

It didn’t take time before he found who he was looking for; sitting on the stairs a very annoyed Midorima was there accompanied by a playful Takao.

“Hi,” said Daiki, approaching them. 

“Oh look who is there Shin-Chan, it’s birthday boy!!” exclaimed Takao seeing Daiki. 

“I should have left you at home,” grumbled Midorima, getting up the stairs. 

“Ah hun, I know you love me.” replied Takao with a wink. 

As much as he was jealous of them, Daiki couldn’t help but smile. 

“Happy birthday Aomine,” said Midorima, ignoring his husband. 

“Happy Birthday~” sang Takao, right after. 

“Thank you guys.” 

“Shin-chan the gift, give the gift!!”

Midorima sighed, he loved his husband very much, but sometimes he was wondering why he was staying with him. He took out an envelope from a pocket inside his jacket. 

“This is not from me, I didn't know what to give you, so the wishes are the gift, '' said Midorima before walking away with Takao who was energetically waving at Daiki. 

Daiki waved back, it was the third time now, he was getting used to it. The only difference now it’s Midorima who seemed sad. 

Daiki opened the envelope and looked at the picture, now it was time to go to the gym where the Winter Cup was held. 

At Teiko, Daiki met Tetsuya for the first time. 

During the Interhigh, he saw Tetsuya for the first time after drifting apart after their graduation from Teiko. It’s during the Interhigh that he had beat Tetsuya and his team coldy, without regrets, he felt invincible. As long as he was winning nothing else was important. No one could win against him, he was simply the best. 

Then came the Winter Cup where he saw Tetsuya for the second time and this time it’s Tetsuya who won the game. His team and him not only won the game but also the Winter Cup tournament. They won against the best team, Rakuzan. It’s while watching that game that Daiki knew that he was stupid for having pusing away Tetsuya. He showed him that the team was important and Daiki needed to understand that to get to the second zone. It had always been Tetsuya, it would always be him. 

Another taxi ride later, Daiki was now in front of the gym where the Winter Cup was held during the time he was in high school., Akashi was there standing on the stair, waiting for him. 

“Happy Birthday Aomine-kun,” said Akashi as greeting. 

“Thank you Akashi.” replied Daiki with a smile. 

“By now, I think you should know what is coming next?”

“Yeah, you will give me an envelope pointing the next direction I will have to take. Judging by the order, it should probably be a street basketball court.”

“I don’t know about the place, but here, here’s the envelope.” said Akashi, giving the envelope and walking after giving a pat on Daiki’s shoulders.

Daiki was about to open his forth envelope of the day with Akashi called his name. 

“Aomine-kun, just know that he loved you, loved you a lot, but he had his reason to leave.”

Blinking, Daiki was watching Akashi who continued walking as if what he just told him wasn’t important. 

Tetsuya loved him but he still left without saying anything, Akashi said he had his reason. What kind of reason? If he really loved him, he would have told him right?. 

Daiki felt all this was related to Tetsuya and now he wasn’t sure if he still wanted to continue to open the envelope; it was his birthday and even if he didn’t really wanted to celebrate it at first, seeing all his friend actually made him feel good and he wanted to keep that feeling. However, he remembered Midorima’s sad eyes and he felt like he almost owed him that, even if he didn’t know why. 

After opening the envelope, Daiki saw that he was right, it was a basketball court and he knew which one it was. It was the one where he helped Tetsuya to find a way to make shots, they developed a technique together. Technique that Tetsuya used during his game against Murasakibara.

This time, Daiki didn’t take a taxi, he grabbed the bus, he needed to think, what if Tetsuya was there, what would he say. Daiki had so many questions, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to know the answer even knowing Tetsuya loved him. Why using the past? Tetsuya didn’t love him anymore...or...or.. Daiki didn’t really want to think about the other reason why one could use past tense when talking about someone. 

Getting down the bus and then walking to the basketball court, Daiki didn’t find Tetsuya but a giant with purple hair, Murasakibara who was sitting on the ground eating snacks. 

Seeing Daiki approaching, his tall friend lazily got off the ground. 

"Minechin, happy birthday Mine-chin” said Murasakibara, hugging Daiki. “Here, your gift,” he added, giving Daiki an envelope and a transparent plastic bag with snacks in it. Daiki suspected what Murasakibara was eating when he arrived was also supposed to be part of the gift, but decided to not say a word about that. 

“Thanks Murasakibara, here take this,” said Daiki taking a packet of Nerunerunerune out of the bag.”

“You are sure Mine-chin, it’s your birthday gift after all.” 

“Yes, I’m sure,” replied Daiki with a smile. 

“Ok.” 

Murasakibara took the packet and walked away like all the others before.  Daiki sat on a bench and opened the envelope while eating a candy part. This time it was a drawing and it was another basketball court. Daiki smiled, he knew which one it was, it was the court where they played on Tetsuya’s birthday.

Grabbing the plastic bag, Daiki walked to his next destination, without really knowing what or who he would find. So far he has met with Kise, Momoi, Midorima, Akashi and Murasakibara, who was left beside Tetsuya?

“Bakagami.”

“Ahomine...happy birthday...I guess.”

“You are still an idiot.”

“Like you.”

The two men laugh, they haven’t seen each other for a while, but it was like if it was yesterday.Aomine truly missed playing against Kagami, but he stopped seeing him after Tetsuya left, it was too painful. 

“I will not make you wait longer, here.” said Kagami, giving the envelope. 

“Thanks”

“My duty is done, I’ll go now.”

“Yeah, I’ll call you...for a game.”

“Yeah , yeah” replied Kagami waving, without looking back. 

Daiki opened what he thought would be the last envelope, the sun was getting low in the sky. A picture this time and he knew where it was. It was his apartment door. 

Kise, Momoi, Midorima, Akashi, Murasakibara, Kagami; only one person was left, Tetsuya. He didn’t know why, but he knew he would be there. 

He still wasn’t fully ready to see him, but a part of him wanted to see him now, despite everything, Daiki was still painfully missing Tetsuya everyday and him being back on his birthday would be the best birthday gift ever. 

Arriving at his apartment, he found Tetsuya sitting on the floor in front of the door. He looked smaller, thinner than before, paler too if it was even possible. 

“Aomine-kun,” softly said Tetsuya. 

“Tetsu…”

All the questions flew away, he didn’t care anymore, everything was forgiven. He just wanted to hold him in his arms. 

Daiki walked toward Tetsuya and embraced him, Tetsuya didn’t try to push him back, in fact he passed his thin...dangerously thin arm around Daiki’s neck and buried his face in the taller man's chest. 

“Happy birthday,” whispered Tetsuya. 

“Thank you.”

Daiki wanted to kiss him so badly, but he didn’t want to push too much, what if Tetsuya was leaving again.

“Can we go in?” asked Tetsuya, pointing the door of Daiki’s apartment. 

“Of course Tetsu, of course.”

Daiki unlock the door and let Tetsuya in. 

Daiki thanks himself to be too lazy to even make a mess, his apartment looked somehow decent, he didn’t have to move his stuff to let Tetsuya sit. 

“Want something to drink? Tea? Water?” nervously asked Daiki. 

Tetsuya gave him a soft smile. 

“Aomine-kun, come and sit here, please” asked Tetsuya patting the couch next to him,”we need to talk.”

“Yes, sure Tetsu.”

Yeah they needed to talk, but Daiki wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear what Tetsuya wanted to tell him. 

Daiki sat beside Tetsuya, his first impression was still there, he definitely looked thinner and paler than before. 

“Aomine-kun, first I want to apologize, the last thing I wanted was hurting you, I didn’t want to leave after you confessed to me, but I had to, so my leaving was already planned. I knew I should have told you before, but I waited, waited too long,” began to say Tetsuya, the eyes filled with water. 

It was the first time Daiki was seeing him like that, so fragile, he just wanted to take him in his arms, keep him against him, tell him that everything was alright, but he didn’t do anything, feeling there was something more. 

Tetsuya took a deep breath, wiped his tears and continued,”I’m so sorry Aomine-kun, you didn’t deserve that, you have the right to be angry, to have some resentment.”

“Tetsu..It’s alright.”

“NO!! No...it’s not alright, I left without telling you anything, I let you think that I left because you confessed to me and I was scared, when it wasn’t it at all,” said Tetsuya, breaking down in tears. 

Daiki got closer, passed his arm around Tetsuya’s shoulder and whispered in his ear to take a slow breath while rubbing his back. 

“It’s ok, Tetsu, take your time,” softly said Daiki. 

Tetsuya lifted his eyes to look at Daiki and took a deep breath. 

“I...I love you, I always have, but...I wanted to protect this image you have of me.”

“Protected, from what?”

“I….I’m sick...I...I have bone cancer.”

It has the same effect of a bomb, Daiki was shocked, speechless, he didn’t know what to say. He suspected Tetsuya had something due to his appearance, but he didn’t expect cancer being the reason. 

“Can...cancer?”

“Yeah...hmmm….remember during the Interhigh of our 3rd years? I got injured and broke my arms?”

“Yes…”

Of course Daiki remembered, how could he forget, he was worried sick about his friend.

“Well, the doctor ran some tests and they discovered that I had a rare form of bone cancer, there are a few people in the world who have it. I first got treatment here, but it didn’t have any effect and the cancer continued to spread. My doctor did some research, did some calls. He eventually found a hospital doing experimental treatments in the USA, it was sure that it would work, but my doctor thought it was worth trying. This decision came a few months before you confessed.”

“So even if I didn’t confess you would have still left?”

“Yes.”

“Did the treatment...work?”

“No, after the end of the treatment in the USA, they didn’t see any change, so my doctor continued looking for something else, he found in Germany, but it didn’t work there too, then in Finland where it failed too.”

“So what you are saying…”

“Six to eight months, twelves if I’m lucky.”

“That’s why you are back, die here?”

“Yes...and no, it’s not the only reason. Of course I want to die where I was born, in the country where I grew up, where are my friends. But also, I spent too much time fighting something without any result, I spent too much time away from the one I love. I might sound selfish, but I don’t wanna die and not know how it is to be loved, not nothing how we feel when we wake up next to the one we love.”

Daiki looked at Tetsuya in the eyes and slowly lifted his hand to cup the pale, so pale cheek in front of him, before leaning and softly kissed Tetsuya’s cold lips. 

“You are not selfish, you have the right to depend whatever you want and if it’s what you want, I will more than gladly oblige.

“Aomi...Daiki.”

Daiki smiled hearing Tetsuya calling him by his first name, he dreamt of it and now it was happening. 

“Now we talk.”

Daiki kissed Tetsuya once again, a bit longer this time. 

“I love you Tetsu.”

“I love you too… Daiki”

Daiki smiled again, “you’ll get used to it.” he said, pampering Tetsuya with kisses.

This was truly the best birthday Daiki had in a long time, he might not have had any party or fancy dinner at the restaurant, but he received the best gift. Tetsuya was back, to be with him. 

Months passed and Tetsuya got more sick, he was spending more time at the hospital, Daiki was always with him, never leaving him alone, it came to a point where Tetsuya couldn’t leave the hospital anymore, Daiki was going to see him daily. Midorima was never far, keeping an eye on his friend. 

During that time, Daiki learnt that everyone knew about Tetsuya health, he was the only one left in the dark. He knew that he should have felt angry, bitter about it, but he knew that Tetsuya made them promise to not say anything, he wanted to be the one to tell him. 

Tetsuya lived for almost a year after coming back to Japan, he peacefully passed away a month before Daiki’s birthday surrounded by his friends, family and lover. 

After years after Tetsuya passed, Daiki never stopped celebrating his birthday and was always making a point to keep an extra space for Tetsuya. Daiki knew he was there watching him, he was feeling it. And he wasn’t wrong, sometimes people could catch the glimpse of a shadow watching Daiki while he was taking care of Nigou. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed   
> Comment are appreciated. 
> 
> I wasn't sure which kind of fic I wanted to write for Daiki's birthday,this year, last year I wrote a full NSFW without any plot fic series and I wasn't sure if I wanted something similar. In the end it is really different and I felt somewhat horrible for write this for his birthday when if it had something that look like a happy ending.


End file.
